Voyage Journal

First task today was picking up the route through the Werra Valley and Eichsfeld that I had interraupted yesterday. It got late so I had to leave my scheduled tour in Heiligenstadt already and went for my accommodation. I had assembled the tour data to get back on my orginal track quickly with the route planning program late yesterday night. I regretted it this morning when it led me over the highway, which I had not exactly asked for. As a sightseeing spot I had included Bodenstein Castle into this 5-day-circuit. But when I got there, this medieval fortification was hidden in the forest and it was unclear how to get there with my motorcycle. I tried to roll a little beyond the ramaced parking lot to see if there was a road leading up to the castle. Instead;I found a considerable and legal offroad track that allowed switching the GS'sassistance systems from "road" to "enduro". Something I hadn't expected at all on this trip. Gladly this was only the beginning of some more offroad fun a couple of kilometers later. Gravel road turned into loose gravel and even bigger pebbles. Just when I had adjusted my driving and was confidently picking up speed the dirt track turned into a green fieldpath with deep lane grooves, that had to be followed. Eventually it changed to two-lane grass paving blocks with a steep descent. A great experience that I had not expected in the heart of Germany and a cultivated landscape like the Eichsfeld.

Today, a tour started on which I had drwan on much longer than necessary. Eventually, you have to click the route planner shut and get on the bike. So today is the first of five tour days and it will mostly be consumed by reaching the destination area of the Werra river valley and the man-made landscape of Eichsfeld (Oak Field). The approach means about 200 kilometers of german highway plus another 100 kilometers along my planned tour to reach the first day's stage. On the way to the designated tour area, two things can go wrong:

1. Bombing down the highway so fast, that you're to exhausted to enjoy riding your bikeinthe actual tour area. Or
2. hanging behind, arriving with weary bones and being so behind schedule that you have to skip part of the first day's coordinates to reach your accommodation on time.

I tend to do both and have gathered more than enough experinces with those two options. Hence, I was relieved to find a enduro duo on the highway I could attach myself to. They were doing an efficient but safe pace so I stuck to their rear tires and went along. A rather parasitic behavior as saves you obligatorily checking your speed and deciding when to overtake slower vehicles in front of you. Like a pearl on a string I followed my two new friends a limited my thinking to a minimum. This way even a couple of hundred kilometers of dry highway can be as relaxing as yoga on two wheels.